Embedding Graphs as Euclidean kNN-Graphs

Abstract

Let G = (V,E) be a directed graph on n vertices where each vertex has out-degree k. We say that G is kNN-realizable in d-dimensional Euclidean space if there exists a point set P = {p_1, p_2, …, p_n} in ℝ^d along with a one-to-one mapping ϕ: V → P such that for any u,v ∈ V, u is an out-neighbor of v in G if and only if ϕ(u) is one of the k nearest neighbors of ϕ(v); we call the map ϕ a kNN-realization of G in ℝ^d. The kNN-realization problem, which aims to compute a kNN-realization of an input graph in ℝ^d, is known to be NP-hard already for d = 2 and k = 1 [Eades and Whitesides, Theoretical Computer Science, 1996], and to the best of our knowledge has not been studied in dimension d = 1. The main results of this paper are the following:
- For any fixed dimension d ≥ 2, we can efficiently compute an embedding realizing at least a 1 - ε fraction of G’s edges, or conclude that G is not kNN-realizable in ℝ^d.
- For d = 1, we can decide in O(kn) time whether G is kNN-realizable and, if so, compute a realization in O(n^{2.5} poly(log n)) time.